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Writing a literature review can be a daunting task for many students and researchers.

It requires a
comprehensive understanding of the topic, critical analysis of existing literature, and effective
organization of information. Developing a search strategy is a crucial step in conducting a literature
review as it helps identify relevant sources and streamline the research process.

To create an effective search strategy for a literature review, one must first clearly define the research
question or topic of interest. This involves breaking down the main concepts or keywords that are
central to the study. Once the key concepts are identified, researchers can then brainstorm synonyms,
related terms, and alternative spellings to broaden the scope of their search.

Next, researchers need to select appropriate databases and sources to search for relevant literature.
This may include academic journals, books, conference proceedings, dissertations, and grey
literature. It's essential to use a combination of databases to ensure comprehensive coverage of the
topic.

After selecting the databases, researchers can then construct search strings using Boolean operators
(AND, OR, NOT) and truncation/wildcard symbols to refine their search queries. This helps narrow
down the results and retrieve the most relevant articles.

Additionally, researchers should keep track of their search strategy and results using citation
management tools or spreadsheets. This allows for easy reference and organization of the literature
gathered during the review process.

Overall, developing a search strategy for a literature review requires careful planning, attention to
detail, and familiarity with the subject matter. By following these steps, researchers can effectively
navigate the vast landscape of scholarly literature and produce a comprehensive review of the
existing research.

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Let'southward recall Pareto constabulary: xx% of efforts make eighty% of the result. Sometimes
concepts from different parts of the PICO structure can be grouped together into one search element,
such as when the desired outcome is frequently described in a certain study type. 4. Decide which
elements should be used for the best results Not all elements of a research question should
necessarily be used in the search strategy. Numbers in bold give the number of citations retrieved by
each search. Conference proceedings can provide the latest findings and discussions on the topic
you’re studying and give you clues on forthcoming papers that may be published. It can exist a plus
if you clarify the applicability of your literature review in further research. Therefore, the number of
elements in a search strategy should remain as low as possible to optimize recall. Steps to increase
sensitivity or specificity of a search strategy can be found in the supplementary appendix. 13. Check
for errors Errors might not be easily detected. What is new? This method encourages searchers to
start their search development process using empty syntax first and later adding the thesaurus terms
and free-text synonyms. We feel this helps the searcher to focus on the search terms, instead of on
the structure of the search query. Library Calendar Log in to the Library's remote access system using
your MyID account. The easiest solution for combining these terms for a sensitive search is to use
such a thesaurus term in all elements where it is relevant. However, during the optimization process,
the searcher is likely to find extra synonyms that might consist of one word. It is important to search
unpublished literature to reduce publication bias, which occurs because of a tendency for authors
and journals to preferentially publish statistically significant studies (Dickersin Reference Dickersin
and Min 1993 ). This slide is modified from slides by Dr Aida Jaffar and Dr Saharuddin Ahmad.
Searching partial abbreviations can be useful for retrieving relevant references. Role of Regulatory
authorities in Quality education, practice, and rights of. Search terms: “diabetes mellitus” AND
aspirin AND “cardiovascular events”. A search strategy and search results should be documented
throughout the searching process. If you are worried about whether you are conducting a complete
search of all the literature or not, make an appointment with your Faculty Librarian who can show
you some very useful tips on how to modify your searches so that you waste less time, get more
effective results and overall, cause less frustration for yourself. Brainstorm keywords related to your
topic, then enter your search statement here. Efforts to locate unpublished and grey literature during
the search process can help to reduce bias in the results of systematic reviews (Song Reference Song,
Parekh and Hooper 2010 ). Although high-quality reviews do make efforts to obtain and include
unpublished data, this does have potential disadvantages: the data may be incomplete and are likely
not to have been peer-reviewed. Any change to the search strategy should be done in the log
document, assuring that the search strategy in the log is always the most recent. 7. Identify
appropriate index terms in the thesaurus of the first database Searches should start by identifying
appropriate thesaurus terms for the desired elements. It may consist of possible gaps and
contradictions in existing researches. That’s because your search of bibliographic databases will not
find relevant information if it is part of, for example: a trials register a study that is ongoing a thesis
or dissertation a conference abstract. So, the purpose of the literature review is to brand an outlook
of existing ideas or thoughts. Screening Results Quality Assessment Reference Management Need
Help. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-. MEDLINE contains more than
22 million references from more than 5600 journals worldwide. Documenting searches for traditional
(narrative) literature reviews is not essential but will help you stay organized and perhaps save you
some time. Creating search strategies for systematic reviews, finding the best balance between
sensitivity and specificity, and translating search strategies between databases is challenging.
For the question “does prolonged breastfeeding improve intelligence outcomes in children?,”
searching specifically for the element of duration will introduce bias, as articles that find a positive
effect of prolonged breastfeeding will be much more likely to mention time factors in their titles or
abstracts. Sometimes certain therapies are interventions for one specific disease. At that place is ane
sufficient problem in this type, by the style. My favourite thing to do at the weekend is get up early
and go for a swim in the sea. What types of biologics are used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. There’s
also another valuable source of information. However, if at least one term from each set of concepts
is not identified from the title or abstract of an article, this article will not be identified by the search
strategy. Using five different macros, a thoroughly optimized query in Embase.com can be relatively
quickly translated into eight major databases. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and
Meta-. Numbers in bold give the number of citations retrieved by each search. Its chief goal is to
provide an overall movie of the studied object. Run and record the search Because of the different
ways that individual databases are structured and indexed, a separate search strategy is needed for
each database. It may consist of possible gaps and contradictions in existing researches. Likewise,
sometimes certain diseases are only found in certain populations. Results for both published and
unpublished studies can be found for many trials on the register, in addition to information about
studies that are ongoing. Sure, it's impossible to detect a topic that hasn't been discussed or cited.
While writing, attempt to uncover insights, be selective and disquisitional-thinking, and don't forget
to keep your vocalisation. Also problematic is that more parentheses are needed, making it more
difficult for the searcher and others to assess the logic of the search strategy. However, it is possible
that in the database some RCTs are not labelled as such, so they will not be picked up by the filtered
search. For example: How do students view inclusive educational practices in schools. For example,
it is very likely that an article would mention osteoarthritis (OA) early in the abstract, replacing all
further occurrences of osteoarthritis with OA. Top left quarter is identify main concepts with
rectangle describing how to do this by identifying:controlled vocabulary terms, synonyms, keywords
and spelling. Let'southward recall Pareto constabulary: xx% of efforts make eighty% of the result.
Keep a written record of your searches Note down the names of journals that you come across often
during your searches. Literature Review. Included in all research Logic behind your research. There
are advantages and disadvantages to using a web search engine such as Google Scholar. The authors
have established a method that describes step by step the process of developing a systematic search
strategy as needed in the systematic review. Keywords Keywords will be searched for in the title or
abstract of the records in the database. A search strategy should be tested for completeness. The
good news is that a range of techniques and web-based tools can help to make searching more
efficient and save you time.
Similarly, this study considers the current knowledge and skills humanities librarians possess as well
as future knowledge and skills required in order to meet the challenges of a changing academic
library environment. How to Identify the Research Gap While Writing a PhD Dissertation Literature.
To benefit from process efficiencies, time-saving and easy collaboration with your team, you can
import search results into a specialist tool such as Covidence. Run and record the search Because of
the different ways that individual databases are structured and indexed, a separate search strategy is
needed for each database. A summary can easily be made in this way and transformed into a well-
flowing, logical literature review. Skim reading allows you to quickly grasp what the article is about,
and its value. They may have ideas about terms or concepts you may have missed. Develop Search
Strategy The search strategy used for literature review. A field structure 10. 3. Revision of the
previous lecture 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 4. Overview of search strategies 18. This will not only
reduce the time taken for future searches but also yield a list of terminologies that are common in
your field. If the original search strategy is of poor quality methodologically, original data are likely
to have been missed and the search should not simply be updated (compare, for example, Naughton
et al ( Reference Naughton, Clarke and O'Leary 2014 ) and Caddy et al ( Reference Caddy, Amit
and McCloud 2015 ) on ketamine for treatment-resistant depression). Using appropriate subject
headings enhances your search and will help you to find more results on your topic.
CONCLUSIONS With the described method, searchers can gain confidence in their search
strategies by finding many relevant words and creating exhaustive search strategies quickly. The
writing process is a long one, because not only are you writing to understand your topic, you are
writing to be understood as well. Brand a confident beginning with a literature review. Here are 5
top tips from our experts to help prepare and achieve high quality data extraction. Work-role of
Radiation Therapists in the Consequences of Adaptive Radiotherap. Depending on the research
question, certain elements are more important than others. By now, the size of this task might be
sounding alarm bells. A search planner may help you to organise you thoughts prior to conducting
your search. Choose an engaging topic and state a central problem. PubMed comprises medical and
biomedical literature indexed in MEDLINE, but provides additional access to life science journals
and e-books. Boolean operators allow standardised search terms and free-text terms to be combined.
Searching partial abbreviations can be useful for retrieving relevant references. Register for
comprehensive research tips and expert advice on English writing, journal publishing, good
publication practices, trends in publishing, and a lot more. Let'southward recall Pareto constabulary:
xx% of efforts make eighty% of the result. The library was pro-active in adopting a new service
model as it took cognisance of the fact that there would be a greater emphasis on supporting
academics and their research; and ensuring that library staff were appropriately skilled to support
these services into the future (Kealy, 2009: 573). If these results were available in the databases but
not located by the search strategy, the search strategy should be adapted to try to retrieve these
results, as they may contain terms that were omitted in the original search strategies. Infectious
Diseases introduction and history.ppt Infectious Diseases introduction and history.ppt Literature
search 1. Several methods describe standards for systematic search strategies, but a consistent
approach for creating an exhaustive search strategy has not yet been fully described in enough detail
to be fully replicable.

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